[ardilla]

DIY by chance. But the results are really awesome.

Actually, what makes or breaks both DACs and amps are their output stage performance. You can get different spatial effects from both. Especially in the case of amplifier's interaction with the transducers being driven. Which goes beyond mere spectrum linearity. There are other factors to consider, like damping, both electrical and mechanical, yes, transducers are electro mechanical devices after all.

DIY by chance?? Elaborate please

 

[hakunamakaka]

I don't know what "decent slam" means. But if you get a chance to hear 007 on T2, it's about the same to slightly more than that (average but not crap). I am sure if I use one of the better DNA or WA tube amps I can get 800S to produce greater slam, but they do just fine on CFA3. Your dac also determines the characteristic of the bass response. Find the right pairing and you will be rewarded, otherwise it's just a clinical tool with artificial soundstage.

Utopia and Clear sound good on pretty much everything but can scale as well.

Utopia or Clear doesn't have jaw drapping bass but it's still better than HD800s. A really good bass in terms of quality and slam was on Final Audio D8000, Abys tc1266 and D9200. I have few sources Luxman and ZDT JR tube amp. Maybe with lots of tweaks and effort to find a perfect pairing you can make this headphone sound good, but there are so many other headphones that you plug in and just sounds plain better. When returning HD800s I had a chance to give them an extra run on Feliks amps (Envy/Euforia) and lampizator dac from Poland. The end results while better were still not satisfying. Retailer praised it as a headphone for mature audience, but I didn't see the point off getting HD800s if such costly source doesn't sing to me.

Something bugs me with artificial presentation of HD800s. After HD800s a quick run on HE1000Se gave me a joy which I was not expecting as I preferred Utopia when compared them in past. With Hifimans subbass rumble was back again and it could sound intimate or spacious depending on track with slightly cleaner presentation. In the end I would take something like OG Clear within the heartbeat which can sound good even from laptop.

Maybe at some point I'll run into modded HD800s, but in it's stock form it's a big nono to me

 

[roskodan]

DIY by chance?? Elaborate please

Used them a lot, washed them regularly, they puffed up and increased in depth and volume a lot, is what happened.

Point is, imo and to my taste, the Clear need deeper and more voluminous pads, then what comes stock.

 

[ardilla]

Used them a lot, washed them regularly, they puffed up and increased in depth and volume a lot, is what happened.

Point is, imo and to my taste, the Clear need deeper and more voluminous pads, then what comes stock.

How many washes, at what temperature?

 

[jonathan c]

How many washes, at what temperature?

… at what acidity / alkinity ?

 

[jonathan c]

How many washes, at what temperature?

Use centigrade for French headphone earpads … …

 

[roskodan]

How many washes, at what temperature?

Well, in use since 2017, 4-5 washes with lukewarm water and liquid detergent.

That's some fancy Japanese Alcantara. It stretches like crazy and the memory foam inside puff up and keeps it stretched.

Should DIY some pads to mimic and improve on those.

What's strange is that third party pads manufacturers didn't go with anything else but replicating stock pads. Clearly just to sell on the fact that stock pads were selling for $200 at first, later $100+. Imagine the profit on a pair of those stock replacement pads, lol.

 

[JGreen08]

I finally got my Ferrum stack. I had read that the Clear are really easy to drive and that even the Apple dongle was good enough. I was going to sell them after I got my Solitaire T, but I'm so glad I kept them. Connecting them to the Ferrum stack makes them sound amazing. Now I can see why so many love them.

 

[csch92]

........

 

[ardilla]

I finally got my Ferrum stack. I had read that the Clear are really easy to drive and that even the Apple dongle was good enough. I was going to sell them after I got my Solitaire T, but I'm so glad I kept them. Connecting them to the Ferrum stack makes them sound amazing. Now I can see why so many love them.

Most headphones need powerful quality amps to get the dynamics, detail and headroom they are capable of.

 

[botmann]

... I had read that the Clear are really easy to drive ...

The Focal Stellia are super easy to drive. I didn't realize how much till I went to local headfi meet up where people had various amps and headphones. I tried the Clear MG my FiiO K9 Pro (ESS) and the Stellia were louder at the same volume settings. The MG sounded very good BTW

 

[jonathan c]

[next post]

 

[jonathan c]

Driven by SparkoS Lab Gemini, ‘tubed’ with the venerable M-O-V (Marconi-Osram Valve) A2900, Focal Clear OG has a startling tactility added to its clarity, depth, heft, impact!

 

[JUICEe36]

I drive my Clear OGs & prior Clear MG Pro with my Element 3 and for me, it is provides the juice to power these headphones. I like the feel, looks, and comfort of all the Clears and the Focal headphones I have tried so far (Clear OG, Clear MG Pro, and Elex).

I got a secondhand Clear MG Pro that had some terribly worn out original red pads, so I got some new Elex pads from headphones.com to use. I did try them with the Clear OG pads, but I think I preferred the look and feel of the Elex on the Clear MG Pro. Plus the all black colorway on it with the Elex pads looked really nice.

Now I'm holding onto my only new headphones I bought, the Focal Clear OG. After thinking about it, I probably only bought one headphone new and the rest were all secondhand purchases on here or on AVexchange and I'm glad I got the Clear OG new. It was a nice experience opening it up.

If anyone has any suggestions on what setup could drive the Clear OG "better" than my Element 3, I'm open to maybe something new.

 

[Shane D]

Just some trivia for folks thinking about jumping on the Focal train:

At Headphones.com
1) OG Clear's - open box -$790.00
If your budget is tighter than that...

2) Focal Elex's -open box -$449.00!!

IME, the Elex is Very close to a Clear and dirt cheap.